


Cabin Fever

by ArsenicHazard



Category: Original Work
Genre: Comfort, Gen, Hallucinations, Isolation, Nightmares, Paranoia, Spaceships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2020-09-16
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:00:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26489827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArsenicHazard/pseuds/ArsenicHazard
Summary: Being trapped in a pod, floating through space is starting to take it's toll on Cain.(Originally written for Inktober 2016)





	Cabin Fever

It had been about a month in the small spacecraft with Petunia. Cain had grown accustomed to the little girl’s presence, taking on the older brother role for her. He would wash and cut her hair when she needed, making sure she was healthy and happy.

Petunia had grown to trust Cain, learning how to walk again thanks to him, and she didn’t mind having to depend on him for many things that she couldn’t do.

The only problem with their arrangement, Cain began to realize, was the lack of open space in the craft. He felt like he walked minimally and it was cramped when he tried to work out beside the spare bed. The lack of movement gave him a lack of motivation, resulting in an overabundance of thinking time. Cain did not handle thinking too much properly.

First, it started with his dreams.

Every night, he would get the same recurring nightmares. It would always start off with a reenactment of how he killed Emerson back on earth. Then it would transition to when he had faced death, falling into the black hole and the feeling of being torn apart. Sometimes, his mind would play sick jokes and rather than experience it again, he would watch himself slip over the event horizon, being pulled and stretched; each particle was torn apart by the sheer force of the black hole while he could do nothing.

He would find himself waking up in a panicked frenzy, screaming. He was broken into a cold sweat, panting heavily. It took him a few minutes to realize the darkness in the cabin was not the black matter in his dreams, but just the darkness of space from the outer windows.

He would climb into the shower for a quick wash of the sweat, then crawl back into bed. When he finally fell back asleep, it was always the same dream cycle, only this time, it was no longer the black hole dragging him down, but multitudes of dark hands, grasping his ankles and tugging at his body, tearing him limb from limb.

This was the dream he could never fully snap out of.

As the days passed, his second symptom began to creep up on him. The metal grated panels that served as their floor only worsened the feeling that shadows were following him. He would carry a flashlight around, and whenever he felt something close, he would flick it on and whirl around. He believed it successfully warded away the shadows that loomed over him.

The ones around his feet were worse. Every day, when he walked towards his bedroom, he felt the shadowy fingers of his nightmares latch onto his ankles, trying to drag him down. There was one day that he wouldn’t even dare leave his bed, knowing they were waiting patiently to see his foot and tear him apart. It took all of Petunia’s energy to get him up that day.

The sounds were the last thing to arrive before Petunia started to take action. The little girl had watched the older one begin to deteriorate, and when he began mumbling to himself or other nonexistent figures, she knew something was wrong. It dawned on the little girl, that not everyone was as used to solitude as she was. Having grown up in her own dreams in the cryotube, she had learned to be comfortable with nothing but herself and her small space. Cain, on the other hand, was acting more like a caged animal each day. He paced, hearing strange beeps and sounds, and flinching at all of them. He looked as if he hadn’t slept properly in a long time, and he barely ate. It was as if the roles had completely changed, and Petunia was looking after the taller man.

Cain rested when he could, avoided standing for too long, nervous about the enclosed area. The shadows at night always felt like they were closing in, grasping his throat and whispering words of death in his ear.

Petunia had never known how to handle sickness, let alone something internal like Cain’s, but she remembered what it was like to be in pain. She remembered how desperate she was for comfort when she was hungry, or hurt. It was the best a young girl like her could do for the other.

There was one night that was particularly bad for Cain. He thrashed and screamed, keeping not only himself up, but Petunia as well. She was in her capsule, having been renovated from where she had been in cryosleep, to a comfortable bed with enough space for her.

The little girl got up, moving over the grated floor to where Cain laid. She crawled onto the bed, grasping his white tank top in her little fingers and tugging. It got the man’s attention, looking over at her. She tugged until he followed, not offering any words between them until they reached Petunia’s bed. She climbed in, looking at the other expectantly.

Cain was half paying attention to her, the other part of his worries from standing on the floor, staring down at the small squares in between the metal, where all he could see was darkness.

Petunia moved over grabbing his shirt again, yanking it for extra measure.

“Cain.” She mumbled gently, shifting to make room on her smaller bed. “Safe.”

Cain looked over at her, taking a small breath. He eventually got the hint, climbing into the bed, albeit a little small for a lanky man like him. He curled up on the bed, Petunia easily melding her small body into Cain’s snuggling close.

The man slowly closed his eyes, nodding softly. “Safe.” He whispered, holding her. Gradually he fell asleep, curled up.

His dreams that night were normal. There were no shadowy figures. He didn’t need any flashlight to ward them away, he had Petunia. And despite all that he taught her, he still learned so much from the little girl; including how to be content with the solitude of each other’s company.


End file.
